‘We would rather hire hard-hats than lawyers’

Continued from FP1

MacNaughton laid blame upon the American lumber industry, which he accused of spreading false information and stymying an agreement. The industry is a player in these talks: part of any deal would require it to forsake trade actions for the duration of the agreement.

The historical pattern of the softwood dispute involves the U.S. industry launching complaints over what it calls unfair subsidies, the U.S. authorities imposing tariffs and the issue dragging out for years, through court fights.

MacNaughton said the American lumber lobby is falsely telling people two things: that Canada hasn’t agreed on a cap; and that the provinces are split on the details of a deal.

“That’s simply not true,” the ambassador said.

He has already told The Canadian Press that Canada has agreed to cap its exports to about 30 per cent of the U.S. market.

He says the only thing Canada is asking for is the ability to expand that cap when the market is so hot the U.S. cannot supply the other 70 per cent.

He said it’s unfair to punish Canadian companies — then increase imports from Russia.

In fact, in the first half of this year, U.S. imports of softwood lumber from Germany have grown tenfold as import duties have increased the cost of Canadian wood.

As for supposed provincial disunity, he pointed to the people around him. They included two former Canadian ambassadors to the U.S. — Gary Doer representing Alberta and Raymond Chrétien from Quebec — and David Wilkins, former U.S. ambassador to Canada, representing New Brunswick.

There were several jokes from the veteran diplomats about how long this has dragged on. Wilkins told a story of a Canadian envoy who was in Gettysburg for Lincoln’s famous address in 1863 — Wilkins said he was there to discuss a lumber dispute with the president.

Chrétien said he’d never have believed when he began dealing with the issue as ambassador in 1994 that he’d still be dealing with it 23 years later.

Doer said it’s unfair for the U.S. lumber lobby to get a veto on a deal.

He said the issue has in the past required leadership from American politicians. He said Democratic and Republican administrations have pushed their side toward a deal: “You need political will and political muscle to do that,” Doer said.

He said it would be ideal to avoid lawsuits and just get an agreement that keeps lumber mills running. “We would rather hire hard-hats than lawyers.”

Representing B.C. was David Emerson, who has